Best Burger

Why is this called “best burger?” For a very good reason. The patties are made with a mix of short ribs, brisket, and chuck for a juicy, mouthwatering bite. Dress up these burgers with your favorite condiments or serve them naked.

This burger, made from short ribs, brisket, and chuck, illustrates a larger point about effort and technique. There’s no reason something should be cooked a certain way just because that’s the way it’s usually done. When I think back on all those burgers I formed by hand, slapping ground beef thoughtlessly back and forth, back and forth, I weep with shame. Only an ambitious home cook will go the whole nine yards and make something as complex as the best burger, what we call a granulated burger. [Editor’s Note: Uh, we didn’t know what “granulated” meant in terms of the best burger, either. So we looked it up on the Mission Street Food blog. Here’s what it had to say: “Granulation is our term for the process popularized by Heston Blumenthal, a Michelin 3-star chef based in London. Blumenthal combines strands of ground meat to create a loosely grained “meat column”, then slices the column into patties. The result is, well, a delicacy.” We’re not going to argue.]

Never grill the best burger, because all of the fat and moisture will drip right out. Instead, searing the burger in a generous amount of fat creates an all-important moisture-sealing crust. Originally published August 6, 2012.–Anthony Myint and Karen Leibowitz

LC Best Burger Note

This isn’t just any burger. This is an exquisitely complex burger, the best burger. Carefully hand-ground from short ribs and brisket and chuck, oh my, it’s then oh-so-gently shaped, expertly sizzled, and handily assembled by the folks at Mission Street Food in San Francisco to create 16 of these burgers. (Uh, you can halve the recipe if you prefer.) If you like, you can also go beyond replicating just the burger part, slapping the patty with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese, smothering it with sliced onions coaxed to submission in hot beef fat, and sandwiching it with a pillowy yet sturdy toasted bun slathered with homemade mayo, just like the Mission folks do. Or do your own thing. Hungry? Us too.

Directions

1. Using a sharp knife, remove any “silver skin” and any tough, gristly parts from the chuck, the brisket, and the short ribs. Reserve the skin and gristle for making beef stock or, if you find them to be offputting, discard them.

2. Using your knife, slice off any large pieces of visible fat from the three different kinds of meat. Some fat may-and, in fact, ought to-remain. Reserve the trimmed fat.

3. Cut the chuck, brisket, and short ribs into 1-inch cubes, keeping the three kinds of beef separate. Weigh the beef, still keeping the kinds separate. You should end up with a total of about 7 pounds.

4. Salt the cuts of beef, using 1/2 cup of salt for 7 pounds of meat. (If you have more than 7 pounds of meat, use a little more salt; if you have less than 7 pounds, use a little less salt. You need just under a tablespoon of kosher salt per pound of beef.) Place the meat on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet, still keeping the three kinds separate. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 2 days. Cover and refrigerate the reserved fat.

5. When you’re ready to grind the meat, cut 1 1/2 pounds of the reserved fat into 1/2-inch cubes. (If you have more than 7 pounds of meat, use a little more fat; if you have less than 7 pounds of meat, use a little less fat.) Reserve the remaining chunks of fat.

7. Grind the 1 1/2 pounds of cubed fat with the brisket and the short ribs and let it fall into a large bowl. Now fashion a wide landing strip of sorts from plastic wrap on your work surface, using multiple overlapping layers of plastic wrap. Pass the mixture of ground brisket and short ribs and fat through the grinder again, this time adding the chuck to create a textural variation. As the ground meat emerges from the grinder, carefully let the columns of ground meat fall alongside one another on the plastic wrap in a parallel formation. Then stack the meat columns to create a single large column of ground meat that’s 5 inches in, uh, girth. Gently wrap the ground meat in plastic wrap, pressing firmly enough so the column holds together but not so firmly that you compress it too much. For ease of slicing, refrigerate the ground meat for at least an hour. (At this point you can wrap the column of meat in several layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a couple of days or freeze it for up to three months.)

8. When you’re ready to cook the best burger, unwrap the column of ground meat and, using a sharp knife, slice it to form as many best burger patties as you like, each 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Melt some of the reserved fat on a griddle or in a large, preferably cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. At the same time, heat another large but ungreased griddle or skillet over medium heat. Sear each patty, without budging it, for 60 to 90 seconds. A crust should form. Using a thin metal spatula, flip the patties and carefully sear the other side for 45 to 60 seconds. Transfer the patties to the ungreased skillet over medium heat to finish cooking to the desired doneness and to allow some of the grease to drain. The exact amount of time depends on how you like your burger. Transfer the burgers to a warm spot for another 2 minutes to rest and drain. (At Mission Street Food they use a wire rack set about an inch or so above the griddle. We think a wire cooling rack set on a rimmed baking sheet in a low oven will also do the trick.)